I wish they would play some more T Ross, I just don't see it happening. I saw a Casey interview from yesterday and he said Ross will have to play more time with the injuries we have. Hope he does play over Mcguire, we should feed him as much playing time as possible

Pietrus would have been a good signing a few years ago when the Raps were rumoured to be interested, but at this point I'd rather see Ross get the bulk of the minutes with McGuire playing the back-up role until AA is back healthy. Even some big lineups with a trio of Davis, Jonas, Amir and Bargs would pose match-up problems (would likely have to play some zone D though).

I saw yesterday a tweet from Stein saying the RAps were considering taking a run at Pietrus but are probably gonna stay the course since the already have 15 guaranteed spots. I thought DM wasn't guaranteed but what do I know. I'd rather have Dom anyway.

There's absolutely no good reason for this team have McGuire on the roster. A young team like this we should just be picking up young guys to try out (same reason to stay the hell away from MickaŽl Piťtrus). I guess you know also know how I feel about having Alan Anderson on this team.

Players like McGuire should only show up on very very good teams that can afford to put in completely one-dimensional players, and the only time they should be playing is when the star players need a breather. A young team that is in rebuilding stages and hoping to catch a break and find some cheap young talent doesn't need a player like that. Everyone knows McGuire can defend, but he can't do anything else. It's kind of like Reggie Evans and his rebounding capability. I'd much rather throw a guy like Ross into the fire and see what he can do than watch more of McGuire's inept basketball skills.

I understand this is more about whether we should get rid of DM for MP.. I'd say stick with DM but give the minutes to Ross.

There's absolutely no good reason for this team have McGuire on the roster. A young team like this we should just be picking up young guys to try out (same reason to stay the hell away from MickaŽl Piťtrus). I guess you know also know how I feel about having Alan Anderson on this team.

Players like McGuire should only show up on very very good teams that can afford to put in completely one-dimensional players, and the only time they should be playing is when the star players need a breather. A young team that is in rebuilding stages and hoping to catch a break and find some cheap young talent doesn't need a player like that. Everyone knows McGuire can defend, but he can't do anything else. It's kind of like Reggie Evans and his rebounding capability. I'd much rather throw a guy like Ross into the fire and see what he can do than watch more of McGuire's inept basketball skills.

I understand this is more about whether we should get rid of DM for MP.. I'd say stick with DM but give the minutes to Ross.

I agree with you but Colangelo and Casey both want to WIN now even though the makeup of the roster is not constructed to be a win-now team. A young team like the Raptors need a veteran presence in the locker room although I think the Raptors signed the wrong "veterans" this offseason considering John Lucas and Anderson haven't been in the league that long and are major scrubs. Honestly, we should make a run for Kenyon Martin. The guy is pretty much begging any team to sign him and he fits the culture that the Raptors are trying to instill (hard-working, intensity, grit, etc.).

Once the playoffs are out of the picture, they should start trying out young guys but not right now.

I agree with you but Colangelo and Casey both want to WIN now even though the makeup of the roster is not constructed to be a win-now team. A young team like the Raptors need a veteran presence in the locker room although I think the Raptors signed the wrong "veterans" this offseason considering John Lucas and Anderson haven't been in the league that long and are major scrubs. Honestly, we should make a run for Kenyon Martin. The guy is pretty much begging any team to sign him and he fits the culture that the Raptors are trying to instill (hard-working, intensity, grit, etc.).

Once the playoffs are out of the picture, they should start trying out young guys but not right now.

+1. Even the youngest teams need solid veteran presence, as cliche as it sounds. People always look at the success of OKC and think that they were just a bunch of young guys who grew into stars together. Look at te vets they had along the way though: Nick Collison, Thabo Sefolosha, and even Nenad Krstic. You need those guys too.

I think that's the problem though. Of course everyone wants to WIN NOW. But you have to look at your roster and realistically manage expectations. My opinion is that playoff talk was always premature. I obviously couldn't have predicted Lowry and Fields getting hurt, but I really didn't expect us to make the playoffs this year. Mind you it would be NICE to squeak in, but when you have the GM and coach telling people that's what they're looking towards you're putting yourself in a situation to fail.

Colangelo SHOULD have gone out and said we're rebuilding but we expect to make major improvements. The problem was that he traded away our lottery pick so he couldn't use that language or his bosses would get really pissed off, especially after they just extended his contract. With Casey, I forgive him only because you can't tell your guys to work their ass off if you just told the rest of the world that you're in a rebuilding year.

Well I don't see Ross getting a lot of minutes unless he starts going crazy in a good way. Two biggest reasons: BC's contract and no lotto pick. I don't see them letting Ross play through his mistakes. They need to win.

I think that's the problem though. Of course everyone wants to WIN NOW. But you have to look at your roster and realistically manage expectations. My opinion is that playoff talk was always premature. I obviously couldn't have predicted Lowry and Fields getting hurt, but I really didn't expect us to make the playoffs this year. Mind you it would be NICE to squeak in, but when you have the GM and coach telling people that's what they're looking towards you're putting yourself in a situation to fail.

Colangelo SHOULD have gone out and said we're rebuilding but we expect to make major improvements. The problem was that he traded away our lottery pick so he couldn't use that language or his bosses would get really pissed off, especially after they just extended his contract. With Casey, I forgive him only because you can't tell your guys to work their ass off if you just told the rest of the world that you're in a rebuilding year.

I didn't think they would make the playoffs either even with Lowry and Fields healthy. Look, Colangelo is trying to cover his own ass and just wants to get his contract extended. By fastening the "rebuild", he really has hurt this team in the short-term and long-term. We don't even play our rookies in crucial moments of the game even when they're playing well and when we play our veterans, we still lose. Long-term, we don't even have a draft pick and how are we supposed to develop Ross when he's playing behind our #1 option right now? This means that we're solely relying on Val to turn this team around and we know that won't happen since he'll always be the #4 option on offense with Lowry/Bargnani/DeRzoan in the lineup. Colangelo should just resign and let another GM take over because everything he did in the offseason reeks of desperation to save his job.

I don't know man. I think people gotta chill on the "Ross needs more minutes" and "JV needs to close games" routine.

Honestly, we're barely over two weeks into the season! At this point in their very young careers I would take Amir over JV at the end of a game and Kleiza over Ross (or Dom or Ross for a defensive stop). Again, we're barely over two weeks in the season. They'll get their chance soon man. Very soon.

Without a lotto pick, what the hell is the point of throwing the rooks to the wolves and letting them learn the hard way? We still need to win games once in a while. It's not like they're sitting at the end of the bench never playing.

They're going to have to learn the hard way sooner or later don't they? Why not do it now? Doesn't a player grow by learning from his mistakes? The team is 2-6 so its obvious that the players Casey has had on the floor in past games haven't done the job.

Physicals....

Didn't Pietrus fail a physical in Toronto last year, hence the reason we didn't sign him? Then the Celtics scooped him up, and he played relatively well for them.

Wonder if Pietrus would even consider signing in Toronto, or if he holds some animosity over last year.

The Landry Fields (injury) makes you wonder why he didnt "fail" his physical.....You would think a messed up elbow should show up..... I wonder if Fields knew that something was wrong, but decided to wait after he became a restricted FA.....To be honest it would explain the dip in his shooting last year. I'm pretty excited to see how he can play when he's back 100% healthy

The Landry Fields (injury) makes you wonder why he didnt "fail" his physical.....You would think a messed up elbow should show up..... I wonder if Fields knew that something was wrong, but decided to wait after he became a restricted FA.....To be honest it would explain the dip in his shooting last year. I'm pretty excited to see how he can play when he's back 100% healthy

Some are suggesting that Fields' condition was a slow developing one that could've been missed during a physical. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that "elbow nerve sensitivity" isn't something explicitly checked during physicals